Azure and Crimson, Magical Girls of Light
Episode 1: End of the Jade Knight
Sunlight streamed in through the front window of a cafe in idyllic Darmfurt, despite the cold weather outside. The good upper middle class people of the suburb didn’t mind the cold since it was a perfect opportunity to don expensive coats and go out to be seen with friends. Still this was Germany, so the cafe was much more practical than a typical Italian or French cafe, acting as a reasonably priced eatery more than a place to get 5 Euro lattes.
One well dressed woman came in and greeted her friends happily. A pair of frumpy engineer types were sitting discussing jargon over two already empty plates. The only non-German was a young Asian woman in her mid 20’s demurely dressed in a calf length blue shirt-dress with white buttons. She sat quietly, sipping tea peacefully.
There was one pair of eyes that kept stealing to the Asian woman. A young man in the corner with a laptop angling his screen out of view to hide the porn he was trying to download. It was a fruitless endeavor, since the cafe’s wifi was filtering out all the fun sites. Heinrich Von Liebstien, son of the proprietor of a nearby quarry, and eternal pervert was not pleased by the blocked links. Still, at least he could enjoy eyefuls of the hot Asian live in person. The waitress had noticed his creepy glances but said nothing, she figured he was harmless and, for the moment, she was right.
An American girl sauntered in with a loud hey-how-are-ya greeting. She plopped down to joined the Asian woman, slinging a book bag underneath her chair and shrugging off her big thick jacket.
“You know, I wouldn’t have guessed it, but it really it a lot of fun here,” the American girl said.
Tendo Aoi smiled at her student with a hint of reprobation, “Now, Kristen-chan, have you been practicing like she taught you?”
“Yes, Miss Tendo, I’ve been on it. Totally on it, so on it you wouldn’t believe. I am so ready to be tested you don’t even know. The real question is, are you ready?”
“I will do my best when the time comes,” Aoi smiled humbly, though the little spark in her eye tells Kristen that she is much more confident than her words.
The television news broke in to regular programming, “... eye witness reports confirm smoke rising from the barracks in...”
The American girl called out to the waitress in English, “Could you turn that up?”
The news continued in German, “Though no official statement has been issues, this would add to the death toll of 11 that began in spontaneous riots in Dusselburg. We have learned that additional attacks have occurred in these neighboring municipalities. These unrelated incidents make this a remarkably strained week, vigils for the victims will be held at...”
Those words, though dark, did not penetrate the pleasant mood of the coffee shop where nothing bad ever happens. Kristen and Aoi exchanged a meaningful look. They knew there was more to this story, and without action, these random events would plow through this city on the way to Berlin. They nodded and without another word, they were gone.
A dark figure clad in black armor stood in a parking lot outside the student center and threw his 5th car upside down onto another. The loud crash of it would surely draw the attention of the university students inside, he smile to himself. But he wanted them scattering, running, breathing delicious fear and sowing chaos. Maybe they needed help getting out of the building—perhaps a hole in the wall would help. He drew his fist up and a ball of dark purple energy crackled, then with a grunt, he hurled it the building.
Instead of the beautiful expanse of chaos he’d expected, there was a blinding flash of light and a clang that dispersed the negative energy ball. A pair of women one in red light and one in blue appeared as if by magic in the way of the blast and held a hand out to the dark figure, the blue one spoke. “Stop right there, in the name of the Goddess!”
“You can’t stop me, not now, I am too powerful, I am the Dark Knight of Jade, Master of Chaos and I will conquer you!”
Unfazed the blue woman spoke again, “I am Magical Girl Azure, empowered by the goddess to stop you in the name of peace!”
“And I am the Crimson Spirit, and if you don’t give up now, I’m gonna toast you like toast!” Magical Girl Azure gave Crimson Spirit a quick look. Crimson Spirit replied, “What, I’ve never done a boss fight before.”
In unison they announced, “Fighting for Love and Justice, we are the Magical Girls of Light!”
“Well, Crimson Spirit, Magical Girl Azure, prepare to face DOOOOOOM!”
“Oh, it’s on!” Crimson Spirit opened with a volley of fire arrows just like she’d practiced when she first got her powers, but the knight conjured up a shield and blocked them with a grunt as he marched toward her.
While her partner was definitely up for the fight, Magical Girl Azure was more worried about the crowd that was starting to gather. She flew to them and ushered them all back inside to go out in another direction. Of course one would assume that people would follow orders in an emergency, but the pull of the spectacle was making slow movers of some, and a few more wanted to help fight.
“Please, you must go back inside, it is for your own safety, I must insist!” Sadly, her polite pleas did not move much of the collected gawkers. She looked back to the fight just in time to see the Crimson Spirit in the way of a speeding mace. With a crash, it hit Crimson’s fire aura, knocking her back and by the looks of it, knocking some of the wind out of her.
“Hail storm, Blast!” Azure launched a quick volley of hail stones that pelted the pair—it wasn’t strong—but it was fast and enough to distract the knight while just melting off of Crimson’s aura.
“Bah, you think you can hurt me!? Feel my wrath!” He flung his mace at her which doubled, then doubled again in size as to whirled end over end at her. She dodged it, but it crunched into the concrete steps. There was no doubt, she needed to move this fight away from civilians.
“Your wrath has poor aim,” she taunted, then pelted him with more hail as she flew over. “Perhaps you are too slow for me?”
He bellowed in rage and chased after her on foot, letting Crimson got her breath back. In a flash, she took flight after them both.
Both Crimson and Azure kept pelting him with minor shots and nicks. Crimson also followed her companion’s lead with more verbal taunting, “Can’t catch us? What’s the matter, your armor all rusted?” “Too much of a fatty to keep up?” “Hey ugly! Taste fireball!”
That last insult was accompanied by a ball of fire that missed its mark, but set a few trees alight.
“Oops... Sorry Azure,” she said, but Azure was already conjuring a dousing blast of water.
Seeing his prey turn her back, the Dark Knight leapt from below soaring in the air and knocking girl’s back with another mace. It blasted off her aura again, knocking her out of the air where she splashed down in a cylindrical pool of water that sprung from no where as Azure saved her again.
“Come on, we’re almost there!”
Azure grabbed up her addled partner and flew on with the knight in close pursuit.
“Did you see that? What was that? He wasn’t supposed to do that! I didn’t know he could do that!”
In moments the forest opened out into a wide expanse of rock as they flew into a quarry. Seconds later, the Knight bashed through the chain link fence and brushed it off like cobwebs.
“You will bow before the might of CHAOS!”
Crimson looked to Azure, “Now can we let loose?”
Azure smiled and nodded.
The Knight was not prepared for the next few volleys. Flashes and slashes came from all angles, they moved with speed and skill glowing much more than before. The first few hits he attributed to luck. When they knocked him down he attributed it to the odd footing. When his shield cracked, he attributed it to distraction, but worry was growing. When he was unable to summon another nega-ball he began to fear. When he was flying head first into the rack pile, he wondered when exactly had he lost control of the fight.
A dark claw trembled and struck down into the earth, grasping and pulling. Attached to it for the moment, was the Dark Knight of Jade crawling to get away. He gasped for nega-energy seeking some source to help it fight conquer, dominate and consume, but the Dark Jade master was beaten, as he well knew. It’s future was as bleak as the pile of hewn rock he presently found himself clawing out of.
In stark contrast, Azure floated, a figure bathed in blue light and gossamer blue wraps of power with golden bangles floated above the earthen crags of mined rock. “Estra’s flow of water—Cleansing Wave!” Her voice, high clear and full of purpose, sung to a higher power manifesting in an aquatic stream that cut off his attempt to escape. She looked to the right and called out, “Crimson Spirit, it’s time to finish it!”
“By Nefernia’s breath of fire, Purifying Blast!!” Like her ally, her voice sung to a higher power which gathered like a storm encircling her in embers that grew burning brighter as they spiraled into a powerful vortex of blinding fire. The streams gathered swirling faster and faster until they became a singularity of light that unleashed in a blast of pure fire, “Hee-yah!”
The flash receded and all that was left of the armored dark knight was a metal puddle on the granite quarry rock.
The girl in blue energy dropped back down to her feet. With the light of the energy abated, revealing the heroine beneath it. She wore a blue form fitting bodice with a pair of gold strips running along the top giving her full coverage. The strips insinuated the curvature of her cleavage as they ran down her midline to a gold belt with a perfect blue raindrop buckle. Covering her shoulders was a shimmery blue bolero jacket with half sleeves and dark blue waterfall detail along the sides. Though the girl herself might have preferred a long skirt, her pants were of the same shimmery blue material along the outsides and darker along the inside of her legs. They billowed loosely giving her perfect freedom of movement resembling a Judo or Karate Gi, finally ending in ankle wraps and blue slippers, perfect for flexibility and kicking. The most striking feature, however, was the color of her hair. Though the shape was straight and thick, obviously owing to her Japanese roots the color of her bob cut hair was vibrant rich blue.
“Huh, that was—wow,” the blue girl’s voice was quiet and reserved. Her ally’s voice was something altogether different.
“Woo, we toasted ’im! Like full on whoosh, did you see that! He was all, ‘haha I’m evil’, and you were all, ‘meh, whatevs, I’m Magical Girl Azure.’ And I was all ‘And I’m The Crimson Spirit!’ and then we were like boom ha, and he got all grrr and phooosh! Yeah!” The girl in red light also release her energy glow and her likeness came into view. Her hair was firey red and flashes of firey magic still rippled through it’s long windswept locks. Her outfit was less Martial-artsy and much more cheer-leadery, with what looked to be a white nylon stretch midriff top with a mock turtle neck with a firey v-neck shell. The fire design was exceptional compared to other cheerleader tops in that the two triangles of the fire design were actually flickering and moving as they formed a “CS” symbol. Her skirt halted at her mid thigh showing of shapely athletic legs and just incase any pervs tried to get an upskirt shot, she wore black slipshorts underneath. On her feet she wore laceless athletic shoes and ankle socks with red bows on them. To her partner, it seemed the animation of her attire was a perfect match to the animation of her disposition.
“Yes, I just..” The girl in blue trailed off in uncertainty.
“Azure, what is it?”
“I don’t know. Listen Crimson, did you sense anything weird when you hit him with your super flame?”
“Uhm, nope just burnt toast, baby.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Wait, oh my god, you bitch! You’re disappointed, aren’t you?”
“Nani?” Her native language slipped out, “And watch your language, please!”
“Yeah, when the spirit came down and selected me to help you with this task of a lifetime, you thought it was going to be this big ass epic fight and we were going to be all emo, but then we just went all ass-kicky and it was like Bfwooosh dust!”
“I wouldn’t say it like that...”
The girl in red threw her arm around her friend taking her sidling up in camaraderie, “Check it, we beat the baddie, and now, as promised, we get our reward! We’re totally superheroes. Saviors of humanity and all that. We’re totally fire.”
“Yeah, I guess. So where is the emissary of the Goddesses?”
“Uhm, I dunno.”
“Exactly.”
“Wait, do you mean what I think you mean?”
“I think so...”
“So are we, no wait, do we, okay I give, what do I think you mean?”
“Perhaps we are not finished with our task.”
“Bummer, so this is like episode one or something?”
Her blue companion nodded. Silence fell over the quarry for a moment as the heroines considered the meaning of their continued transformation and the absence of the emissary.
“Well I’m hungry, let’s get some bratwurst!”
“It is very late at night.”
“We can get it at a pub!”
“Are you old enough to drink?”
“I am here in Germany!”
The azure girl sighed silently at her cheerful companion, but she did not complain. The firey girl was right, the drinking age in Germany younger here than in the US or Japan, so they wouldn’t be running afoul of the law. Also, food did sounds pretty good...
Magical Girl Azure was right to feel uneasy, because in the moment that he was about to be incinerated, the dark lord was able to teleport himself to a storage warehouse where he had sensed the nearest human lifeform.
“Boy!” The Dark Lord of Jade called out.
Heinrich slammed his laptop closed and yanked up his pants, “Shit shit shit.” Damnit, where in the world could a guy jerk it in peace? Since he’d gotten back home his father had been riding his ass at all hours about working at his quarry. His old man seemed to have a hard on about passing on the family business and only ever thought about work. That meant that Heinrich was stuck—if he wanted to watch some porn or download some hentai, he had to get out of the house, come to the quarry and hide out in the warehouse in one of the spots with wi-fi but no cameras and just hope that no one would stop by. After all that he was pissed that a dude yelling, “Boy!” was killing this mood.
“What—woah, what the heck!” Heinrich grabbed a fire extinguisher and hosed off the toasty man who seemed to come from out of nowhere. “Holy roasted shnitzel! You look like ass.”
“Help... me.”
The extinguisher cloud cleared the view before him was like a scene from a comic book—or maybe a really bad cosplay of Darth Vader. It was like Darth Vader just got beaten by Obi-wan, and the emperor decided to just give him the helmet and skip the suit altogether. “Okay, you’re in rough shape, now I don’t know what happened, I was working on a spreadsheet and —”
“Take the mask, boy.”
“Uh, no?”
“Listen to me, boy, I have seen your heart, the frustration. Take the mask, it has power to make your dreams manifest.”
“Okay, listen, you’re batshit crazy, but I’m going to help you take the mask off so you can breath.” The figure seemed to relent, so Heinrich took the helmet and pulled up on it. His hands jolted and clenched when they had both made contact with it, and he saw a white spirit emerge from the body.
«THERE IS LITTLE TIME, I MOVE TO MY OWN WORLD SOON, BUT I HAVE A GIFT TO BRING. BOND WITH ME AND I PROMISE YOU POWER.»
“Didn’t work out too well for this guy.”
«BOND WITH ME AND YOU WILL KNOW THAT WHICH I HAVE SEEN ON THIS REALM THROUGH TIME LONG GONE BY. YOU WILL MANIFEST FULLY AND TRULY WITH A CONNECTION TO POWERS BEYOND YOUR KEN. THE OPPORTUNITY TO ACHIEVE ASCENSION HAS COME UPON YOU, YOU NEED ONLY TO TAKE IT.»
“... uh.”
«BOND WITH ME FOR MY BOON.»
“Uh, how?”
«PUT ON THE HELMET.»
“Oh, right. I knew that.”
«BOND WITH ME FOR MY BOON. THERE ARE BUT SECONDS REMAINING.»
“So you’re a spirit or something?”
«BOND NOW TIME IS FLEETING.»
“For a boon right? What kind of boon are we talking about.”
«ALL THAT YOU DREAM AND DESIRE IN YOUR BLACKEST HEART MADE WHOLE, MADE FLESH!»
“What do you mean, made flesh, and—is this like a Scientology thing? Cause I read that there a cult—but then the magazine got sued so—”
«IMBECILE, WHAT NONSENSE DO YOU BABBLE?»
“I don’t wanna get sued is all I’m saying, damn. Besides, uh I can’t find, uhm where is the speaker in this thing? Oh and where does the battery go?”
«DOLT, JUST DROP MY HELMET THIS WORLD IS NOT READY TO RECEIVE MY POWER.»
“Wait a second, when you say ‘made flesh’, do you mean like hot babes in cutoffs flesh or like Deadpool meets Zombietown flesh?”
«MORON, NO, THIS... THIS IS A SCIENTONOMY CULT ARTIFACT. YOU’VE BEEN HAD. NOW DROP THE HELMET.»
“Moron? You’re calling me stupid?”
«YES, MORON, AND UNDERSTAND THAT WHEN I SAY THIS I SPEAK FROM EONS OF EXPERIENCE CONQUERING THE LOWEST MOST DIM OF ALL YOUR RACES AND EVEN AMONG THAT LOT YOUR LIGHT DOES NOT SHINE TO MATCH THE DIMMEST OF THEM WHEN STARVED AND BEATEN INTO SENSELESSNESS. IF YOU ARE REPRESENTATIVE OF THIS ERA, THE MORTALS OF THIS REALM CANNOT COMPREHEND THE CONCEPT OF BREAKFAST MUCH LESS CHANNEL MY POWER, I LOOK FORWARD TO AN EPOCH OF SLEEP WITHOUT THE BLEATING OF YOU SHEEP.»
“Blow me.”
«HEY, NO, WHAT ARE YOU, PUT ME BACK DOWN. LET SOMEONE WORTHY FIND ME! DROP ME, DUMMY! STOP!»
Heinrich shoved the hunk of smelly metal onto his head and in that instant he both ceased to be and became more than ever before.
“Oh, FUCK YEAH!”